A Pennsylvania hiker is recovering after his left hand was blown off while trying to start a campfire.

The accident happened on the Appalachian Trail, which runs about 2,200 miles from Maine to Georgia. Ethan Kunkel, deputy chief of the Kempton Fire Company, tells The (Allentown) Morning Call that the man grabbed the wrong substance out of his backpack and it exploded. The chief didn't say what the substance was.

Advertisement

Kunkel says the explosion, which happened about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, shattered the man's hand and that doctors are unlikely to try to reattach it.

Authorities haven't released the man's name but say he is from Exton, near Philadelphia.

The 34-year-old man had been planning to hike the trail about 800 miles to Tennessee.